THE Daily Record today reveals that at least 37 sex offenders have changed their names.

The figure is high enough to suggest the tactic is being routinely used by some of the most devious offenders in Scotland's criminal justice system.

That begs a frightening question: If these are the men the police know about, how many others might there be who have managed to slip through the net?

The sex offenders' register forces perverts to make their whereabouts known to the police.

But the system breaks down if they succeed in creating a false identity and quietly disappear into the community.

When that happens, restrictions on their movements cannot be enforced. They find themselves free to prey on fresh victims.

That cannot be allowed to happen.

The Scottish Government must heed calls for even tougher monitoring - including lie detector tests.

Polygraph technology would at least give police advance warning of those offenders who might be tempted to try their luck.

It could give the authorities a head start, and that would make Scotland's streets much safer.

We cannot afford to take chances with people who we know will bide their time and seek to exploit any weakness in the system.

Cuts won't heal

THE Tories' once-proud reputation as the party of defence is in tatters.

As part of George Osborne's spending cuts, the British Army are to be slashed from a force of 102,000 soldiers to just 82,000 - their lowest strength since the Crimean War of the 1850s.

It poses questions about our ability to play our part on the world stage, it threatens much of Scotland's regimental history and it raises the spectre of ­unemployment for thousands of men and women who have served their countries.

As military personnel, they cannot speak out. But service families can - and yesterday they did.

Those protesting at the cuts included not only relatives hoping for the safe return of loved ones but also those mourning sons and daughters who did not make it back.

Their powerful pleas should not go ignored in Westminster.

Well, isle be ..

SCOTLAND is home to the happiest - and some of the glummest - people in Britain, a survey claims.

Folk in our island communities are more likely to say they are really content than people anywhere else in the UK.

But in North Ayrshire, Glasgow and North Lanarkshire, people reported low levels of "life satisfaction".

Talking to people in those areas suggests Scots still look on the bright side, no matter where they live.

And maybe the gloomometer depends not on your postcode - but whether you managed to catch a glimpse of the sun.